Pulse v1, Chapter 1 "Side-Effects" (1999-2000) (Patreon)

I figure I should get to this eventually.  The original Pulse, made off and on between the year 1999 and 2009, when I then decided to reboot it into the modern Pulse comic (after first considering doing the comic "Vast Cosmos").

This is the first chapter.  At the time, I didn't post pages weekly, I posted an entire chapter at once every few months.  There is a colored version of these pages, but I didn't color them, so I thought it was a mistake to post them on a Patreon if I didn't make them all by myself.

I tried to go back and find the original files and post much higher resolution files, but the files I found on backup CDs wouldn't open correctly.  There's a chance I have to open them on the same computer I made them with (which I still have in a closet), but I'm assuming unless I trace or redraw these pages, this might be the best they'll get.  I did re-run a gif to png converter so these are probably the smallest file size of these pages.

Some background info- in 1999 I wanted to make a webcomic.  I decided to make it about a superhero named "Matrix".  I was inspired to draw the comic after reading the manga "Hen" (it might not have been translated, and I may have just read the pictures), which had a very thin, long-legged, busty character.  I first designed the character who would later become Tabitha, and then I decided the lead should be a really unconventional character.  I knew she would be a tech heroine, so the unusual way to go would be to make her Asian, shorter, and super-buxom.  I also made her hair brown instead of black.

When the movie named Matrix came out, I wanted to alter the name of the comic and the lead superhero, and it became "Pulse".

My original plan was to make it PG-13.  But this was the internet of of the early 2000's and lots of people added mild nudity to their creations just because they could.  A con of that was that and comic like that is usually lumped in with much more adult comics.  So I ended up with something too adult for most comics, and too tame for others.

As you can tell here, this version of the comic is set in England, with Annie and her parents as the only Americans.  I think I wanted to have it set in some far off place, but eventually realized it was a rookie mistake-- to set a story in a place you've never lived.

Also if you've noticed there are PG-13 and R versions of some of the pages.  I continued this for a few chapters.  I also added an extra page that was the original first page.  It would have been "super" Annie starting a flashback.